Doctor Who's first director Waris Hussein will be guest of honour at the National Media Museum's Bite The Mango film festival, taking place in Bradford from September 19-25, 2008.

As well as receiving a lifetime achievement award and being interviewed about his 40 years as a director, Hussein will be taking part in an interview specifically about directing the very first Doctor Who serial An Unearthly Child and the lost epic story Marco Polo.

The interview will take place on Sunday, September 21 at the museum in Bradford. It will be accompanied by photographs from the museum's Daily Herald archive and a screening of the 'take one' version of the episode "An Unearthly Child". Further details and tickets will be available from the museum's website.

BBC News reports that both Catherine Tate and Freema Agyemanhave been nominated in the "Favourite Female TV Star" category at this year's British version of the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice awards.

The awards, run by digital children's television channel Nickelodeon, see children vote for their favourite personalities and programmes. Tate and Agyeman are nominated alongside Miley Cyrus and Miranda Cosgrove. In the "Favourite Male TV Star" category, David Tennant is nominated, facing competition from Dylan Sprouse, Josh Peck and Robin Hood star Jonas Armstrong.

Doctor Who itself is nominated as "Favourite Family TV Show", up against three ITV shows - The X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent and Harry Hill's TV Burp. The Daleks are nominated as "Favourite Baddie", alongside Simon Cowell, Plankton and Randy Orton.

The BBC News report claims that these four nominations are a record for one programme. Votes can be cast on the Nickelodeon website. The awards ceremony will be held in London on the 13th of September.

In addition to filming the new remake of the Terry Nation series The Survivors, her appearance as Tattycoram in Dickens' Little Dorrit and rumours that she will be appearing in the upcoming third series of Torchwood, it was announced today that Freema Agyeman will be starring in the new ITV production Law and Order: London.

Agyeman will be playing the main prosecutor in the show. Her co-stars include Coronation Street'sBradley Walsh and Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber. According to Bamber, "The show is [with] London judiciary and London cops," said Bamber. "It's got the same premise as the original American Law and Order, same everything, just with a UK production company and UK actors."

Showrunner for the new series is Chris Chibnall, former head writer of Torchwood. Filming is to begin next month.

At 9pm BST tonight (Thursday), BBC One will air John Barrowman: The Making of Me, the first part of a series in which celebrities investigate the causes behind their "defining trait". In subsequent instalments, violinist Vanessa-Mae will investigate the roots of her musical talent, and sprinter Colin Jackson will investigate what makes him fast; in tonight's segment, Barrowman will investigate what makes him gay. The programme considers factors both social (Barrowman visits his family and talks about his childhood) and biological (he undergoes brain scans and genetic testing).

Barrowman and his sister Carol have co-written an article about the question for BBC News Magazine. One segment from the programme can be seen on the BBC Magazine page, and another is also available on BBC News' site. Barrowman has also been interviewed by The Guardian in conjunction with the special; the New Statesman also has a review.

The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom is running a news story titled 500,000 pounds Mr Spielberg? Sorry, I've got a date with the Beeb, says the new Dr Who writer, in which it claims that incoming Doctor Who executive producer and chief writerSteven Moffatturned down a lucrative deal to write the second instalment of the new Tintin film franchise in order to take over the running of Doctor Who.

Moffat tells the Mail that he had originally signed up to write the first two Tintin films of the planned trilogy, to be directed by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. However, after completing the script for the first film, Moffat was offered his new position with Doctor Who, and pulled out of the deal.

"I was offered the Doctor Who job and accepted immediately," Moffat is quoted as telling the paper. "I hope you won't make what happened sound too dramatic. I talked to Steven and he understood completely. I could not work on the second Tintin film and work on Doctor Who. So I chose Doctor Who. Steven is a fan and he understood my passion for the series completely."

"There are no bad feelings between Spielberg and me, but Doctor Who has to come before Hollywood."

Moffat further adds that current executive producer and chief writer Russell T Davies is working on four specials, and then Moffat will take over the running of the series.

UPDATE, July 21:
Moffat has described the Daily Mail report as "a bit misleading" in an interview with BBC News. Moffat told the BBC that he had planned to finish his work on Tintin before beginning his Doctor Who work, but the former was interrupted by the US writers' strike. He also says that "nothing less than Doctor Who could have torn [him] away" from Tintin. He called Tintin a "stunning project" he was "proud" to be part of, but added that it was "the proper duty of every British subject to come to the aid of the TARDIS".

Moffat also noted that although the Daily Mail report called Steven Spielberg "a fan" of Doctor Who, in fact he merely "knows and admires" the programme. Of the two directors working on the Tintin project, it is Peter Jackson who is a Doctor Who fan, according to Moffat.

Finally, Moffat told the BBC that the figures quoted in the Daily Mail article are "entirely speculative and wildly inaccurate".

The first Tintin film, directed by Spielberg based on Moffat's script, will star Thomas Sangster in the title role; Doctor Who fans will remember Sangster as Tim Latimer in last year's story "Human Nature"/"The Family of Blood".

Posted By John Bowman

The first preview night of Under The Blue Sky had to be scrapped yesterday after cast member Catherine Tatesuffered an ankle injury.

What caused the injury - sustained during the last dress rehearsal - is unknown but BBC News said it was hoped the actress would be well enough to take to the stage tonight.

The results of an X-ray are being awaited.

The play, by David Eldridge, is on at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End.

UPDATE - 18 July: Today's Sun carried a report saying that Tate was performing the play aided by a crutch. It said she had twisted her ankle in a fall during rehearsals.

Donna Noble actress Catherine Tate is to star in the upcoming West End production of Under the Blue Sky.

David Eldridge's award-winning, funny and touching play portrays three subtly connected love stories that reveal in turn the roller-coaster ride of lust in its prime, the sacrifices of a life in public service and its unrequited passions.

As Michelle, the hilariously promiscuous 38-year-old maths teacher who has just been dumped by the love of her life, Tate strips off for a revenge sex scene with her nerdy teacher colleague. "She doesn’t apologise for having slept with all these people," says Tate. "I think it’s very honest and refreshing to have someone who goes, 'Yeah, I have a lot of sex.' It just strips away the nonsense."

Tate is very thankful to Russell T. Davies and her success on television, including Doctor Who, for bringing her more theatrical roles. "Now theatre people say: 'Would you like to come and do a play?' When I went to drama school that was all I really wanted to do. You don't go there to learn how to act on TV and film."

She credits Davies for taking what she calls a "gamble to take on someone like me who is known, by the vast majority of people, for wearing wigs and comedy teeth."

The play runs for ten weeks beginning 15 July at the Duke of York's Theatre, St. Martin's Lane, London.

For more information about the play, tickets, and video interviews with the cast, please visit the official website athttp://www.underthebluesky.co.uk/

To read the full interview with Tate, go to thisislondon.co.uk.

Doctor Who Executive Producer Russell T. Davies has received an honorary fellowship by Cardiff University for achieving international distinction in his field.

Born in Swansea, Davies became the lead writer and executive producer behind Doctor Who's successful return to the small screen.

In his speech to a packed auditorium, Davies spoke of his pride in his work in Cardiff.

"For those of you who don't know, we make Doctor Who in this city, and over the past four years we have made Cardiff like the surface of Mars and Pluto.

"We’ve made it look like Italy, we’ve made it look like Delhi and we’ve made it look like Belgium.”

He added: "It only just goes to prove you can do anything, anywhere, it doesn’t always mean you have to go London."

Doctor Who's head writer Russell T Davies is to receive an honorary fellowship at Cardiff University next Monday (14th July) during their annual degree ceremonies.

These degrees are conferred upon those who have been seen to achieve international distinction in their fields of expertise. Amongst those included this year are television personality Carol Vorderman and Welsh rugby legend Gerald Davies.

This award follows on from Davies's recent nomination for an OBE in the Queen's honours.

For more information see the University's details on the awards, and reports from The South Wales Echo and This is Swansea.

As Series Four draws to a close, Executive Producer and Head Writer Russell T Davies talks about his involvement with Doctor Who, the show he was part of reviving after a 16-year hiatus in 2005. Answering fans' questions on the BBC News website, he says that once he leaves he will no longer be involved with the show even for an occasional writing stint. He hands the reins over to Steven Moffat in 2010.

"I think Steven's more than his own man. He doesn't need me at all. I won't write for it in the future. I'm done with it. It's time to move on and I'd hate to be just a ghost haunting the corridors that I used to walk.

"And who needs me? Because Steve's brilliant and they've got a thousand million plans. I'll just be old news and it's about time."

He said he would most miss the people he had worked with. "They are genuinely brilliant people, our designers and producers and the crew at BBC Wales. They are fantastic and they're part of the reason I've stayed for so long."

Despite his intial fears of low budget and a non-peaktime slot, he was pleased with the way the BBC treated the show. "I thought there'd be a lot of compromise, I thought we'd be compromised on budget. We could have ended up with no ratings and a Sunday afternoon slot, so absolutely nothing [was compromised] and that really is the honest answer. We got to make everything that I wanted to make.

"I knew what we'd made was good. So I knew I could sleep at night. I knew even if no one watched it, I could sit there and say I had done a great piece of work."

He added: "None of us ever saw this much success coming. I didn't even envisage a spin-off would be possible."

When asked about his favourite line of dialogue, he replied: "I did love Donna, played by Catherine Tate, in a show we did two weeks ago called Turn Left. She said: 'You liar, you told me I was special' to Rose, when she feels her life has been betrayed and lied. I think she delivers that line with such venom - I love that moment."

Asked which villains or creatures he might have brought back if he'd continued with Doctor Who, he said: "I've used a lot of the classics but the Silurians were always very good. They were a race of lizard people who were the original owners of the Earth. I always thought it was a very clever idea that there was a civilisation before us. I'm not bringing them back but they're ripe to be returned one day."